Budding Naturalists
September 27, 1997 Seven young people between the ages of five and sixteen arrived at McNary Environmental Education Center (MEECE) with supervisors, Eliazar and Bev, for an outdoor educational experience.
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Six white pelicans fed on the pond, four harrier hawks glided over the sagebrush areas, and unseen warblers twittered away in the brush beneath the Russian Olives, heavy with bitter fruit.
Phragmites nodded their plumes in the heavy breeze while the reeds swayed reluctantly. Cattails, milkweed, and thistles willingly surrendered their progeny to the invisible carrier. Sandburrs and goatsheads clutched at passing shoestrings and pant cuffs.
A very young raccoon lay dead, its pain and trauma unknown, but the carcass intact and rescued for later taxidermy.
A study of bird beaks followed, with demonstration of a relay race with simulated beaks and food.
Teri Warner passed out hand scopes to look at the nearly transparent tiny life in the pond water, more sparse in late summer than earlier. She explained the features of bird feathers and those were examined with the hand scopes.
Breaking owl pellets was a most engrossing activity. Inside the undigested hair and feathers, pieces of claws, bones and skulls were discovered to the children's delight.
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